Mike Doherty

President

Mike oversees the development of client growth strategies and agency operations. His passion lies in exploring new ways to push the boundaries of how brands build relationships with consumers to drive business growth.

Since he joined Cole & Weber, the agency has produced a TV show for Pabst, helped Chateau Ste. Michelle create the world's first crowdsourced wine, developed a media player to syndicate live content for Microsoft, and produced a lead management tool that enables clients to track the effectiveness of their marketing all the way to media placement.

Mike has also worked on brands like Pabst, TiVo, Target, Gallo, The International Olympic Committee, Gold Toe, Nike and Kellogg's.

Prior to Cole & Weber, Mike started his own agency and earned enough national recognition from Lurzer's Archive, D&AD, the Clio Awards and The One Show to sell it 8 years later.

Mike likes to write and has contributed to Fast Company, WARC, Media Post, Creativity and various other business magazines.

He enjoys running, traveling, daddy-daughter time and learning anything new.

Jason Black

Executive Creative Director

Jason is an award-winning creative director with a clear vision for what it takes to build a thriving creative culture - one that produces awe-inspiring big ideas for clients of all shapes and sizes.

As an insight-obsessed, endlessly curious creative tinkerer, Jason is on a Navy-Seal-level mission to spare the world from the dull, boring and useless. Over the years, he has helped clients across a wide spectrum of categories achieve perma-smile-inducing results. His vast experience as a creative leader has taught him that earning a client's trust is essential if you want to accomplish the impossible.

James Mackenzie

Director of Strategic Planning

James is our research bloke. He was an early pioneer in the integration of multi-disciplined, 360° brand strategies. It's his job to uncover compelling consumer insights that provide opportunities for more meaningful brand experiences.

In London, James survived being on the boards of both a creative ad shop and a DM agency at the same time. He led the restructure of Lloyds Bank's direct-response strategy as a profitable brand-building medium (as opposed to a customer-torturing one). He's also a Gold Effie winner and the inventor of a whiskey blending kit.

He's worked on brands like National Power, Diageo, Savoy Group of Hotels, Visa, Boeing, Pabst, Gallo and Capella University.

In 20 years of horseback adventuring, James has had only one truly interesting fall—so far.

He loves the thrill of disorientation, loud movies on a wide screen, body language in supermarkets, and seeing how unpaved corners of the world look from the back of a very large, four-legged animal.

Craig Jelniker

Director of Integrated Production

You know the cliché? The one that goes, “If you love your job you’ll never have to work a day in your life?” Craig Jelniker lives that cliché. He loves bringing ideas to life, telling stories, making things happen. He loves the people, the tools and the toys of his chosen profession. And every now and then some of the stuff he creates ends up as “work.”

Craig has been an agency producer for over 20 years. He’s worked at The Martin Agency, BooneOakley and Y&R on clients like UPS, Gatorade, Dell and Land Rover. The work he’s made has won Lions, Pencils and Webbys, and has even been immortalized in the archives of MOMA.

Craig, his wife, and two kids are excited about their arrival to the West Coast. They plan on taking lots of road trips, searching for kitsch and eating great food. And one day he hopes you’ll sit with your Sunday coffee and read the book of his documented travels.

Trisha Mills

Connections Director

As you might expect, Trisha is great at making connections. For all her clients, she works hard to uncover the hidden insight that will lead to that unique way to connect a brand with an audience. It's her job, and mission, to make sure the message, the consumer and the challenges she and her team try to solve are the basis of all connection strategies.

Trisha has 20 years of experience working with big global agencies (McCann Erickson, Saatchi & Saatchi) and privately held creative shops (WONGDOODY). She grew up in connections planning, but is a generalist at heart — forward-thinking about her clients' business problems and always looking for ways to integrate connections planning with the strategy and creative work. Over the years, she’s worked on brands like Alaska Airlines, Cedars-Sinai Hospital, Western Governors University, Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf, TireBuyer.com, Washington Mutual, REI and DoH Anti-Tobacco.

Trisha has a curious mind and loves to see this same trait in others. She's also a sucker for good stories, exploring, reading, and long dinner parties while sharing food, wine and laughter with family and friends.

Claims to fame: 25 years working in the outdoor/active sports space. Worked as executive CD at both DDB Worldwide and Foote Cone & Belding before starting Hammerquist Studios in 2005. Has helped numerous top brands in the active sports world develop winning brand strategies and creative work. Has won creative awards in Communication Arts, The One Show, New York Art Directors Club, Clios and the Andy Awards.